LadyMistDragon

Map 13: UAC Prison by John Bishop Crispy Doom, UV, pistol-start I don't want to spend too much time here. Safe to say John Bishop teleport traps in practically every room at least once and in the case of the central courtyard and accompanying towers at one end, does it every time that we return. It's probably a casual level of danger I can imagine was still quite unexpected in the 90s. Then there's the optional encounter accessed by plunging into the central cavern with a large rad pool and thusly facing off against half a dozen Cacodemons and huge mass of pinkies. It's not too hard to dispose of with the plasma rifle but is the best 'setpiece,' as far as that goes. What's not so exciting is facing off against 'prisoners.' Just like General Roasterock, I never really understood how this was supposed to be 'cute' and find the whole concept of caged enemies in jail entirely nonsensical. The one trap toward the end one can probably use a couple of rockets on was sufficiently dangerous (since they'll teleport out!) and one of the harder situations in the map but the rest were rather unthreatening turret nonsense that just dragged down the pace quite badly. One could also argue that having mass teleport ambushes cheapens their impact after a while, since this'll probably take close to 20 minutes the first time around Still, this would probably rank the best John Bishop map played, although that's basically because something like Sprike 2 proved so mediocre, despite the Quake ripoff effects.

Tropical Fuck Storm - A Laughing Death in Meatspace

Ok, I'm not gonna complain about a map using a modified version of a Turok midi! Especially when it fits the vibe of the map quite a bit. :) It's also cool how it's basically linear, yet due to how everything's layed out, is actually kind of inconsequential! Kind of like the second to last large Revenant.....ahem, well, I'm really glad to have played this!

Greg Howe - Landslide

ok, before this thread gets closed I guess you're one of those people who think that NATO expansionism caused this war? While that might be part of it, Ukraine hadn't actually joined yet (and hasn't even now) and every time Putin gives his honest thoughts on why, it's kind of clear it was only a matter of time. To say nothing the timing was such because it seemed like it might be a time where America might be distracted....which isn't quite how it worked out, as it happens.

...not really? You'd have to give the current situation a little more time to cook before that becomes more than a remote possibility. Right now, we're sort of making the right moves, if not at an appreciable speed.

Map 12: Military Center by Chris Harbin Crispy Doom, pistol-start, UV Symmetrical boredom the map. It's really too bad because the layout of the outer courtyard is quite nice, with some snug overhangs connecting each of the four corners of the outer courtyard, which also presents a moderate amount of danger to the pistol-starter though probably not too much when you get a Super Shotgun from the jump. Somehow I ended up with 12 rockets despite not even finding a rocket launcher. Monster closets open up every time it proves necessary to return to the central building to collect a key but it's very much on the 'eh' side of things. Ultimately, despite the modified version of a late-period classic practically akin to "Land of Able," there's nothing here worth talking about.

Bolder Damn - Rock On

they slip into his pocket without changing shape, idk.

Underworld - Born Slippy

Not really lots to say, other than this does indeed work in Crispy Doom, I guess there was some MAPINFO issues in the 3 map set you released before but this is perfectly fine! Although in Map 09, a particular Imp closet has them all frozen in place. And the city levels are certainly more resembling real-world places than the original! Funny how Map 12 has the same concept as it's counter part in Doom II: The Way Id Did, not a bad thing or anuthing!

Deployment Base (1996) by Scott Sutherland (Crispy Doom) Can we maybe not have a map where more effort obviously went into the story than the map? Anyways, it's the very cliche of a mediocre map from the 90s: repetitive texturing, 'non-traditional' usage of door textures that largely prompted the placement of a computer map near the beginning, a horribly confusing maze, one instance of BS backtracking, generally limited verticality.....and very close to the end, a Cyberdemon because everyone had to have one. To be fair, it proves entirely completable once we end up near the location of the red key, mentioned above. But monster placement has basically zero thought applied where progression's concerned and the few attempts at breaking from the pea-soup marble color scheme I hated so much when it appeared in OG Doom fall so flat, it's a wonder why they'd even bother. There are also some stabs at lighting, but though one of them is quite effective, the other just feels so random. 2/10 Simply Simple (1999) by Sailor Scout "JC Bengtson" (Crispy Doom) This might be better if this actually had a Super Shotgun. As it is, we've got "Master of Puppets" blazing in the background with a high-pitched harmony representing James Hetfield's vocals, a metric ton of hitscanners and an awkward lack of bullet ammo. The former only grows worst as one exits but there's literally an exit at every linedef of the outer courtyard so you can just be like us, say 'screw it,' and get the hell out of here. Maybe I bitched a little about Rex Claussen's attempt at Dead Simple but it's like....JC had already proven to be a better mapper than this at the time so why bother with this underpowered, if energetic kind of pile? 4/10

Map 11: Frozen Terror by Chris Harbin Crispy Doom, UV, pistol-start A somewhat earlier Mark Klem midi (the classic low-key grower "Midnight Call") is finally paired with a map that fully deserves it, a surely oblique reference to that one ice planet map from Star Wars: Dark Forces. Just don't expect any slippery surfaces here, just open areas which push the limits of verticality. If not from the one mound with the yellow key on it, the far-off chaingunner would be too much. And in our case it kind of was, since unfortunately, some slight carelessness with monster placement at the top of a nearby lift might make proceeding there a matter of luck. But overall, this largely works to the map's benefit as very much unlike the last map, Chris seems more determined to group enemies into more threatening packs. Some mild exploring will also net some stronger weapons, though the amount of ammo available for them is miniscule. Hint: Hold on entirely to the cells until the Baron pair in the dead end cave. Regardless, despite a few overly open areas that are a result of this map's highly vertical design, the flow of encounters is quite nice. Get the blue key for the nearby blue door then be confronted by a swarm of Pinkies, Imps and a solitary Revenant that test the newly acquired SS. To get a rocket launcher, hit the nearby switch here than take the teleporter which leads right back to the start where we're confronted by a chaingunner and Imp pair on either side of the starting location. The RL is in the right alcove I believe. Anyway, we'll then go and trigger an Duke3D Abyss-style earthquake, engage in some more cool incidental things and blasting some Cacos coming out after getting the key with the Barons I believe, than handling some Arachnotrons in a narrow space, a la OG Map 11 from Doom 2 with some rockets explorers should've found in a deep chasm secret, then ending the map. If it wasn't for Map 09, this would be the best so far. A little bit of polish would have really taken this a long way, although perhaps the secret-finding is perhaps one of those 'out in the open' things, apart from the very last one.

Id is a AAA, not even AA. studio. It's just not something I can conceive of in any manner. Like it or not, they are entirely at corporate beck and call at this point. If they were to do some kind of No Rest for the Living/Call of the Machine expansion for an older game, that would be one thing but iirc, they were basically prompted by things like special releases and anniversaries. Cameos of maps in non-id games like even Dusk would probably be the very best that can be hoped for.

Skull: The Mask (2020) A very gory slasher, with a plot somewhat better than Terrifier, though I don't think that's saying very much, heh.

Not too bad! Pretty speedy for the first 80 percent or so. Progression was rather unclear in a few spots admittedly (so we go to where some powerups are located to shut the enemy teleporters off? And I still have no clue what shut off that teleporter in that one Rev stair hallway beyond I'd just backtracked.

I guess I'm just glad I don't go out of my way to play AAA games anymore. Really, there hasn't been anything recently in years that has really excited me. I think Doom Eternal looked kind of good, but didn't have the time then and now seeing the utterly bloated filesize it apparently is, I have no interest in checking it out. Cyberpunk 2077 is probably much better now but that doesn't mean I'm very driven to play it. Odd how that works sometimes.

It's only natural after a fairly solid recent map, we'd end up saddled with DM dreck unfortunately. Laby for Hexen (1996) by Armin Rigo (GZ Doom) Perhaps this should've just been a deathmatch map then. Even though the narrow corridors would keep it from being fun for long, the verticality would at least make some sense. But no, it's a texture mishmash which happens to function vaguely like a maze but in truth, feels far more like a test of what can be done with narrow verticality in Hexen. But without knowing weapon locations, you're screwed and there's basically nothing of interest to be garnered here 2/10 MYSTIC KEEP FOR HERETIC V2.0 (2001) by Pritesh [Ice] Mistry (DSDA Doom) The name looks Indian, which would be quite unusual. But what we have here is a decent-looking and difficult map, designed originally for deathmatch but with enough teeth that you'll never feel asleep. Though it's not terribly difficult if one doesn't charge around everywhere; the narrow rooms should soon cure you of that tendency. Eventually, there's maulotaurs near the end that probably take too long to kill but in the end, this is a solid map for Heretic at a time when Heretic mapping had all but ceased. 6/10

Map 10: Dark Woods by Chris Harbin Crispy Doom, UV, pistol-start This map starts promisingly enough with the Gothic DM slightly industrial winner "Red Sky" accompanying us and a quick trip into some dark thick woods of which little was probably seen in '99 and despite the apparent lack of a shotgun in the opening sections, enemies are scattered enough to where it makes little difference. But shortly after this, we enter canyons of CONCRETE which ultimately culminate in a cave of snow. And unfortunately, enemies are scattered in such a way that the challenge as such is close to non-existent. No crowning ambushes, only one surprise at the high-up silver door and a whole lot of nothing better served in a Fragport map.

She is soooooooo pretty!!